Orthosomycins are a group of complex lipophilic oligosaccharide antibiotics that are active against gram positive bacteria including methicillin resistant Staphylococci and/or vancomycin resistant Enterococci. Lipophilic oligosaccharide antibiotics include, for example, eveminomicins, the flambamycins, the avilamycins and the curamycins which contain at least one acidic phenolic hydrogen, at least one orthoester linkage associated with carbohydrate residues and usually a nitrogen-containing group. Lipophilic oligosaccharide antibiotics are components from fermented cultures of microorganisms. For example, certain everninomicin type compounds can be prepared from the fermentation of Micromonospora carbonacea. Various lipophilic oligosaccharide antibiotics and processes for their preparations are known and taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,597,968, 4,735,903, 5,624,914 and 5,763,600; in A. K. Ganguly et al., The Structure of New Oligosaccharide Antibiotics, 13-384 Components 1 and 5, Heterocycles, Vol. 28, No. 1, (1989), pp. 83-88; in A. K. Ganguly et al., Chemical Modification of Everninomicins, The Journal of Antibiotics, Vol. XXXV No. 5, (1982), pp. 561-570; in V. M. Girijavallabhan & A. K. Ganguly, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th Ed., Vol. No. 3, (1992) pp. 259-266; in Derek E. Wright, Tetrahedron Report Number 62, The Orthosomycins a New Family of Antibiotics, Tetrahedron Vol. 35, Pergamon Press Ltd., (1979), pp 1207-1237; and in references cited therein. In addition to being complex in their molecular structures, these antibiotics are highly susceptible to degradation. These complex antibiotics are produced in fermentation broths, together with many impurities, precursors and by-products. Thus, the efficient separation of the antibiotic component from the fermentation broth is highly challenging. It would be highly desirable to provide a method which efficiently recovers the desired lipophilic oligosaccharide antibiotics (orthosomycins) from a fermentation broth or mixture wherein the antibiotics are admixed with other impurities, precursors and/or by-products.